Stephen Tharp
About this Artist
Stephen Tharp, described as having “performed colorfully, rousing and splendid” by The New York Times, is recognized as one of the great concert organists of our age. Having played over 1600 concerts across more than 60 tours worldwide, Stephen Tharp is the recipient of the 2011 International Performer of the Year Award by the New York City chapter of the American Guild of Organists, considered by many to be the highest honor given to organists by a professional musicians' guild in the United States. In 2015 he was given the Paul Creston Award which recognizes artistic excellence in church music and the performing arts.
His list of performances includes such distinguished venues as the The Royal Albert Hall. London; Elbphilharmonie, Hamburg; the Philharmonie, Berlin; the Gewandhaus, Leipzig; St. Bavo, Haarlem; St. Eustache, Paris; the Tonhalle, Zürich and Victoria Hall, Geneva; Dvorak Hall, Prague; The Hong Kong Cultural Centre; the Opera House, Sydney, Australia; The Meyerson Symphony Center, Dallas; Walt Disney Concert Hall, Los Angeles; The Kimmel Center, Philadelphia; and the Symphony Center, Chicago.
He has given master classes at Yale University; the Eastman School of Music; Rice University, Houston; for chapters of the American Guild of Organists, and served as a member of the jury for the 2018 Chartres International Organ Competition.
Inspired at the age of 13 by the opportunity to play for Aaron Copland, Stephen Tharp continues to commission and premiere numerous compositions for the organ by composers such as Samuel Adler, George Baker, Thierry Escaich, Jean Guillou and Philip Moore; and Anthony Newman. His solo organ recordings can be found on the labels Acis Productions, JAV Recordings, Aeolus, Naxos, Organum and Ethereal.
He is currently the Artist-in-Residence at St. James’ Madison Avenue (Episcopal) in New York City.
For more information and booking, see www.stephentharp.com.